ECHOES OF COMEDY: INFLUENCES OF SPANISH THEATRE IN THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE NETHERLANDS IN THE...

Para citar este trabajo: SANZ AYÁN, C. “Echoes of Comedy: Influences of Spanish Theatre in the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherland in the Hapsburg Era”. Doc. De Trabajo. 1. Proyecto NOBINCIS. 2013. ( añadir enlace WEB). Versión completa en: SANZ AYÁN, C.: Hacer escena. Capítulos de Historia de la empresa teatral en el Siglo de Oro. Madrid,R. A. H. 2013. pp. 75-112

ECHOES OF COMEDY: INFLUENCES OF SPANISH THEATRE IN THE HOLYROMAN EMPIRE AND THE NETHERLANDS IN THE HAPSBURG ERA1

Iluminando a HelicónNoble trasunto de ApoloDas luz al bélgico poloY al Hispano, admiración

[Illuminating HeliconNoble representation of ApolloYou give light to the Belgian poleAnd to the Spaniard, admiration]

These are the four first lines of a laudatory decima by Don

Juan de Amezquita ― a gentleman from Granada’s municipal

oligarchy, belonging to a family engaged in leasing royal

incomes2― in praise of poet and playwright Miguel de

Barrios. It was written in the foreword of a book entitled

Flor de Apolo, apparently published in Brussels, although it

actually appeared in Amsterdam3 in 1665. According to his

1“Ecos de Comedia: Influencias del Teatro español en el Sacro Imperio ylos Países Bajos en tiempos de los Austrias” in Teatro y Fiestas del siglo de Oroen tierras europeas de los Austrias. Madrid, SEACEX, 2003, p. 94-106.

2 More specifically, Luis de Acosta Amezquita was lessor between 1671and 1674 of sales tax and a small percentage of Granada sugar. A.G.S.C.M.C. 3ª ép. Leg. 34793 Sine 1995 a number of scholars have insisted that this book waspublished in Amsterdam, although the printing location was faked so itwould appear to have been published in the city of Brussels. Therewere commercial reasons for this, as customers in the southernNetherlands would not have misgivings in acquiring the work.

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devoted admirer, Don Miguel’s writings, including his

comedies, gave solace and pleasure to readers in the

Netherlands and Iberia alike. They were in circulation

across both territories in their printed versions, as

testified by the existence of a copy of the book preserved

in the National Library in Madrid and once owned by Don

Juan Sanz Dorador4, a member of the group of Portuguese

Jewish converso financiers from Portugal who were operating

in the Peninsula during the second half of the 17th

century; he may have acquired it as a gift or he may have

ordered it from one of his correspondents in Amsterdam.

Bernardo Eliesneher, another financier and agent for the

Fugger family in Madrid during the early 17th century,

owned a large library with more than one hundred and sixty

books, including “... veinte libros pequeños en alemán uno con otro.. y

otros trece de cuartilla (..) ” [“... twenty small books in German, all with each

other.. and another thirteen in quarto (..)”] of which no other details

are given except for the price and that they were sold in

Madrid at public auction sometime during 16125 .

Also in the National Library of Vienna is a manuscript with

comedies and interludes by Castillo Solórzano6, originally4 BNE 3/63064 5 A.H.P.N.M. prot. 2845, fol. 1428v.6 Specifically Manuscript 13.181 talks about him. PAOLESSI, R.: “Casade Regozixo. Un manuscrito del siglo XVII”. CICHON, P (Ed.): Actas de las

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owned by Don Fernando Afán de Rivera, Duke of Alcalá. The

manuscript was produced as a personal gift for the Duke on

the occasion of “... su embarcación en el Grao de Valencia para el Reino

de Nápoles” [“... his departure from the Port of Valencia for the Kingdom of

Naples”]. Finding this volume in Vienna comes as no

surprise, as the Duke died in Villach in 1637.

The young student Fabricio, the main character of a work

entitled Jalourse studentin, a direct adaptation of Lope de

Vega's La escolástica celosa, describes an educational journey

taking him to Leuven, Douai, Orleans, Salamanca, Alcalá,

Barcelona, Padua, Heidelberg, Cambridge, Oxford and finally

Coimbra, before returning to his home city The Hague.

Although he was a fictional character, his experience was

not so different from that of another young man - this time

in real life - who ended up in Salamanca in the early 17th

century and was such a regular spectator of comedies that

he recorded the titles and names of the companies of

players in his diary7.

Primeras jornadas de Hispanistas en Austria. Viena, 1996, pages 145-148. Themanuscript contains a collection of short novels told under thepretext of amusing a lady recovering from a grave illness at carnivaltime. It has an introduction and four parts called Holguras that includestories and the interlude El prevenido together with two one-day comediesentitled El Barbador and La prueba de médicos. 7 SOMMAIA, G. da: Diario de un estudiante de Salamanca. Edition andintroduction by HALEY, G. Universidad de Salamanca 1977.

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People, ideas, books and leaflets were in circulation all

over Europe in the 16th and 17th century and for obvious

political reasons, they were more prolific in the regions

governed by the two branches of the Hapsburg family tree.

The theatre performed in the Netherlands and in the Holy

Roman Empire during the 16th and 17th centuries8 was also

influenced by Spanish Golden Age theatre, either as topical

inspiration from afar or by means of translations and

adaptations.

Theatre tradition in lands of the Holy Roman Empire prior to contact with Spanishcomedy: school theatre and carnivalesque comedy

School theatre, both the Protestant and the Catholic form

produced in the 16th century in German-speaking

territories, came from humanist drama and in many ways it

was the outward sign of the reaction against the

persistence of religious theatre traditions from the Middle

Ages9. Protestant theatre arose in regions where

confessional controversy was particularly lively, such as

Saxony, the Upper Rhine and Alsace. Its primary source was

Greek and Latin classic drama taken from the original and

translations into the vernacular. Reformists like8 I am deliberately excluding court theatre and Baroque festival as faras possible, since both are dealt with elsewhere. 9 On all these issues, see CURTIUS, E.R.: Literatura europea y Edad Medialatina. Mexico. F.C.E. 1948.

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Melanchthon and Luther expressly recommended that students

study writers of classic Roman comedy and that their dramas

should be performed in schools.

The connection between Protestantism, school and theatre

gave rise to a large number of playwrights who used school

drama as a medium for propaganda10. Aimed at reaching the

masses, Neo-Latin drama was translated or rewritten in

German, but the formal model continued to be based on

classic drama. More than a hundred playwrights developed

Schuldrama for the 16th century. Perhaps the three most

significant were Joachim Greff (1510-1552), Paul Rebhun

(1505-1546) and Sixt Birk (1501-1554). However, it was

always cultivated in the small circle of humanist Latin

experts as well as in higher education establishments and

universities, which is why it never became anything other

than an educational and elitist form of theatre. In the

1720s and 30s, German Baroque poet Martín Opitz (1597-

1639), urged German writers to model themselves on classic

French and Italian classic authors when writing their

Baroque dramas (Trauerspiel) aimed at a wider audience.

Tragedies by Baroque playwrights Silesia Andreas Gryphius

(1616-1664), Daniel Casper von Lohenstein (1635-1683) and

10 EHRSTINE, Glenn: Theater, Culture and Community in Reformation Bern, 1523-1556.Brill, Nedherland, 2002.

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Hallman were performed in Breslau on school theatre stages

cultivated in the city’s Protestant colleges, as they were

to some extent written for this kind of theatre.

School drama, albeit a peculiar kind, was developed by

Jesuits in German-speaking territories from the mid-16th

century to well into the 18th century. It arose at the same

time as the Catholic Counter Reformation with the

appearance and spread of the Company of Jesus, founded in

1540, becoming a permanent and fixed part of the teaching

of rhetoric delivered in the Order’s schools.

Jesuit schools were serious competition as far as

Protestant school theatre was concerned. Works performed in

educational and public venues, exhibited on solemn

occasions and at end of term celebrations were at the

service of the Counter Reformation. The southern regions of

Germany and Austria were where Jesuit drama was at its

strongest. The Company of Jesus contributed no theories or

forms of its own to produce its drama and theatre pieces,

resorting to existing traditional dramatic forms and

theatrical practices that were already widespread in their

areas of influence, such as religious drama, morality

plays, bourgeois comedy and school drama. They also

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incorporated humanist drama, with strict observance of its

use of Latin.

To make their performances easier to understand, they

published a kind of illustrated programme called Perioche

with a detailed description in German of the content of

each act and scene. We could interpret this as evidence of

an apparent contradiction between the purpose of effective

evangelising and that of preserving Latin in their

performances. The apparent paradox can be explained,

firstly because the Jesuits’ Counter Reformist missionary

purpose was aimed at a cultured social group. Secondly, in

performances of these dramas, Latin flowed in a similar way

to how it was heard in liturgical events and religious

services, instilling respect and veneration in the majority

of spectators who did know the language.

From a theatrical point of view, Jesuit drama distanced

itself clearly from the humanist drama model and from

Protestant school theatre, relying more on sensationalism.

At first, large-scale outdoor sets were used that provided

enough space for displaying impressive mass scenes, but in

the 17th century tastes changed to favour salon-style

venues that not only had the effect of concentrating the

dramatic action but also enabled the latest modern stage

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techniques to be used. The similarity between the

theatrical practice preferred by the Company of Jesus and

the way court theatre was staged, particularly the staging

of Italian opera, became visibly apparent in the 17th

century.

This type of drama that had been developing strongly since

1580 shows certain preferences in terms of theme and

content. For example, in the early 17th century, drama

about martyrdom was popular and from the mid-17th century

it had also spread to Vienna, where the preference was for

historical themes, with the special genre of Ludi Caesari.

Its creator was Nicolaus von Avancini (1611-1686), Jesuit

and Tridentine professor of rhetoric and theology. In his

Pietas Victrix (1659) he took the example of Constantine the

Great and his victory over the enemies of the church,

lionising the Austrian monarchs as Constantine’s

successors. The conscious orientation of these dramas

towards exaltation of the Hapsburg dynasty, plus the active

participation of the Imperial court in their performance,

turned them into a quasi-official form of Baroque state

theatre. However, in addition to this peculiar form of

Jesuit theatre, the genre’s finest moment came with the

work by the Munich professor of rhetoric Jacob Bidermann

(1578-1639) who, with his Cenodoxus (1602), produced the

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most important Jesuit drama of all those written on German

soil. The work, traditionally considered to be one of the

sources for Goethe’s Faust, narrates the story of the

famous, elegant and hypocritical Doctor of Paris who

eventually falls victim to eternal condemnation. But

whether they were plays about saints or martyrs, on

biblical or historical themes, it was basically about

glorifying the triumphant church.

To find the echoes of certain popular roots on German-

speaking stages one has to look at the Meistersingers and at

carnivalesque performance in particular. Although there were no

public theatres in the 16th century in the German-speaking

area, one kind of drama had deeply urban roots and

maintained secular forms of performance dating back to the

late Middle Ages, combined to a certain extent with the

genre of medieval religious performance.

In its different variations this theatre reflected the

political and religious issues of the day, although it also

frequently revealed a freer literary ambition with regard

to the themes and motives of the time, especially in music

drama. The development of this genre was mainly located in

the south of today's Germany and in Austria.

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Meistersingers were usually residents in an organised

association governed by the guilds and set up to practise

the arts of poetry and music in a characteristic expression

of the artistic efforts of simple townsfolk, mainly

artisans. It had its heyday in the second half of the 15th

century and in the 16th century. The leading schools of

Meistergesang were founded in Mainz, Augsburg (1449),

Sterzing in the Tyrol, Strasburg (1492) and especially in

the imperial city of Nuremberg (1450). The artistic profile

of these associations was controlled by strict public

regulations and compliance was generally overseen by four

inspectors. The Meistersingers did not just learn technical

aspects such as rhyme or musical appreciation. They also

learnt how to perfect the content, themes and moral message

in the songs. For the Meistersingers, their art was a work of

God and a useful way of occupying one’s time, in short, a

combination of ethical, instructive and pleasant

activities. The culmination of the Meistersingers’ activity

were contests and competitions11.

Like Meistergesang and often written by the same authors, the

middle class carnival comedies originally performed between

Epiphany and Ash Wednesday served as entertainment for this11 The central theme of Wagner’s opera, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868)is based on the activity of the Meistersingers and his main character,Hans Sachs, is an idealised version of the real-life figure.

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layer of society. Carnivalesque comedy arose in the middle

classes and represented middle-class interests. Satirical

pieces making reference to other social groups started to

appear, expressing opposition to anything that was not

urban-related; it was against villains, gentlemen and,

above all, against peasants. They were performed in taverns

or private meeting places and the actors were nearly always

colleagues from the same guild. Some one hundred and fifty

theatre pieces date from the period between 1430 and 1500,

generally consisting of no more than about three hundred

verses and lasting anywhere between five minutes and half

an hour.

The early serial structure, with the prologue and epilogue

spoken by separate orators and in which a series of

unconnected figures narrated a story, gave rise to action

comedy. This form was a step forward for theatre as

characters stopped interacting directly with the audience

and began to act out their roles within a closed fictional

framework.

In the 16th century this tradition produced the exceptional

character of Nuremberg poet and playwright Hans Sachs

(1494-1576), a Meistersinger belonging to the middle class

guild of master shoemakers. On his return from a journey on

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which he learned his trade, taking him to the Tyrol, the

Netherlands and central Germany, he settled in Nuremberg in

1520 and became a famous Meistersinger. His extraordinarily

extensive poetry work includes nearly two hundred dramas.

He wrote around eighty pieces of carnivalesque farce in its

strictest traditional form, depicting simple scenes from

domestic life, customs and language from the period12. In

these dramas, Sachs was able to connect with the old

Nuremberg tradition, creating a novel form of drama that

was much more developed overall and became regarded as the

classic form of the genre. Hans Sachs worked with a huge

variety of themes and content: burlesque motifs, the

Italian Renaissance novel, popular books and topics of his

own invention.

What is really interesting about these classic

carnivalesque comedy sketches by Sachs, the same as with

secular comic drama in the late Middle Ages, is the

satirical trivialisation of human faults and weaknesses in

general. However, they do not contain drastic and obscene

carnivalesque buffoonery, plus they lack the satirical

biting tone that mocks human vices and failings. These

features were replaced by warm and sympathetic humour

12 SCHWEITZER, Ch.: Étude sur la vie et les oeuvres de Hans Sachs. París, Berger-Levrault, 1887. p. 340 and foll.

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blended with an instructive, moralising and benevolent

approach.

The same cast of characters, with special preference for

the figure of the peasant, on which the obsession with

ridicule is offloaded, is also shared by the comic

interlude. Based on the burlesque sketches of the Middle

Ages, its main sources were the exemplary stories and tales

by minor monks, humanist pamphlets, such as those by

Heinrich Bebels (1508-1514), plus oral tradition. The drama

of the Meistersingers of Nuremberg and carnivalesque farces

had few or no successors beyond the 16th century.

Theatre tradition in the Netherlands prior to contact with Spanish comedy

Literary life and theatre practice in the Netherlands

during the 16th century was widely dominated by the famous

chambers of rhetoric, the Rederijker, which had already

started appearing in the 15th century and were in some ways

comparable with the German Meistersingers and their love of

dramatic theatre13. However, the theatrical activity of the

13As predecessor of the drama cultivated by the Rederijker we shouldconsider the genre of Abele Spelen, which dates back to at least the mid-14th century and consisted of serious secular drama always combinedwith a comic sketch in the form of a idealising farce known as Kluchten.Very few of these Abele Spelen have been preserved although some have

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Rederijker began before that of the Meistersingers in Germany

and was developed with greater precision until it found its

own form of dramatic literature and theatre practice.

The breeding ground for the Rederijker and for their theatre

was the flourishing culture of the Netherlands in the late

Middle Ages. This was the result of a series of

circumstances, in particular the high middle class living

standards reached in many urban communities and the secular

humanist spirit that drew people towards an artistic,

figurative and realist sentiment that was reflected, for

example, in the sculpture and painting developed in the

Netherlands during that period.

The main genres cultivated by these middle-class urban

associations that sprang up alongside the guilds were drama

and lyrical poetry, almost always performed against the

backdrop of civil or religious festivities. By the end of

the 16th century there were around two hundred spread

across nearly all the cities in the Seventeen Provinces.

The dramatic production of current events was a common

feature of their activity. The Renaissance and Humanism

survived and date back to the early 15th century. Both these dramaticforms were performed at gatherings of young people (Ghesellenvan denspele), which were already being organised by guilds and were theprecursors of the chambers of rhetoric in the early 15th century.

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were also addressed by the Rederijker; Erasmus’s In Praise of Folly

sparked numerous theatre plays and poems and other works by

him were translated and produced as comedies.

The leading academies of rhetoric in Amsterdam were De

Eglantier (the wild rose) of which Gerbrand Bredero (1585-

1618) was a member, and Het Wit Lavendel (the white lavender

flower) consisting predominantly of Flemish refugees from

the southern Netherlands and to which Joos van den Vondel

(1587-1679), widely regarded as the “father” of Dutch

theatre, belonged. In Antwerp the most important chamber

was De Olijftak (the olive branch).

Chambers of rhetoric members were not just citizens who

belonged to the guilds, unlike the vast majority of German

Meistersingers, almost all of whom were members of the

artisan class. In fact, they were joined by a higher

patrician middle class and even by aristocrats and royalty,

at least in the specifically honorary and management roles.

For example, Emperor Charles V belonged to the Het Boek (the

book) chamber of rhetoric in Brussels under the title of

Prins (honorary president), although it was actually run by

a member known as the Faktor. Other important roles in the

internal hierarchy of the chambers of rhetoric were those

of treasurer, buffoon and standard-bearer. As high-ranking

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figures began to join these association, their prestige

grew and they started to make more public appearances.

The primary dramatic genre developed and cultivated by the

Rederijker were the “Spelen van zinne” (literally, “plays of the

mind”), a kind of secular allegorical drama akin in many of

its features to the late medieval morality genre. The

dramatic structure of their theatre performances was very

simple but also very distinctive. They were around seven

hundred verses in length on a general topic of human

interest that was tackled as a key issue and addressed

allegorically in the performance.

The characters nearly always discussed the topic using a

controversial and argumentative dialogue and were never

more than simple allegories with no trace of realism

whatsoever. The biblical or ancient themes often

incorporated into these plays served merely as examples for

reference and were never depicted as real or meaningful

historical events14.

The allegorical characters used most frequently included a

special group, the Sinnekens (spirits or imps) who created

confusion and were similar to the sarcastic devilish

14 GIBSON, Walter S.: “Artists and Rederijkers in the Age of Brugel” inThe Art Bulletin September (1981) vol. LXIII, nº 3, p. 426-435

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characters featured in religious plays in the Middle Ages.

Their mission was to produce comic effects in what

otherwise might have been a monotonous drama. This

development of the action was also emphasised by the so-

called Vertooningen or tableaux vivants, scenes showing

motionless, silent figures at critical moments in the

action. The Kluchten or Esbattementen were also part of the

dramatic heritage of the Rederijker and slightly broadened

their classical repertoire. The minor drama forms, almost

always performed as satirical monologues by fools (Factien)

or as couplets (Tafelspeelkens), described funny scenes to

make the audience laugh, although they sometimes included a

satirical moral twist.

The stages on which they performed their plays were also

very distinctive. The Rederijker, at least in the 16th

century, used special stages called toonels (neutral

platforms with no sets), closed at the back by a façade

several storeys high normally built with fake wooden

architectural features, in a similar way to an altarpiece.

This façade had a number of openings blocked off by

curtains at first, which were then drawn back when the play

reached its climax, revealing the living tableau of the

Vertooningen.

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The impact of these living tableaux on the audience caught

the attention of Calvete de Estrella when he accompanied

the future King Philip II of Spain on his visit to the

Netherlands. His account of the Prince’s solemn entrance

into Leuven in his Third Book includes a description of the

impact of watching these Vertooningen performed in the street

by members of the city’s academies of rhetoric15:

“(..)Llegando a la plaça de Groufstrate, delante del monasterio de monjas de laAnunciación, el qual fundó la marquesa muger de Guillermo de Croy, Marquésde Arscot, avia allí un espectáculo en una quadra muy bien entapiçada, yabriendo unas cortinas de tafetón verde, con que se cerravan, al un cabo de laquadra se vía representar de personas bivas el rey Príamo de Troya con coronay vestiduras reales, acompañado de la Reyna Hécuba su mujer y sus hijos y demuchos cavalleros vestidos de colores. Los quales todos assí en esteespectáculo como en todos los otros, que eran representados los autos depersonas vivas, era maravillosa cosa de ver en abriendo las cortinas, conquanta magestad, postura y arte estavan hechos personajes, representandotan al pronto la hystoria que allí se hazía que sólo de ver la postura de cadapersona se podía fácilmente entender quíen era cada uno y lo querepresentaba, assí en el gesto y semblante como en la postura del cuerpo y delas manos, piernas y pies, quedando en paños pintados, sin mover los ojos, nipestañas, ni hazer cosa fuera de lo que representava, assí hombres comomujeres, que quien quisiere ver un tapiz de figuras bivas podiera verlo enaquellos espectáculos (..)”

15 DEPLUVREZ, J.M.: “Fêtes, cortèges et rejouissances aux Pays-BasMeridionaux. Ceremonial de cour et traditions urbaines”. Splendeursd’Espagne et les villes belges 1500-1700. Vol. I, Brussels, 1985, p. 184

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[“(...) On our arrival at the square of Groufstrate, in front of the nuns’ conventof the Annunciation, founded by the Marchioness, wife of Guillermo de Croy,Marquess of Arscot, a performance took place on a well-draped stage, andwhen the green taffeta curtains were drawn back to reveal the stage, thefigures of Priam of Troy wearing his crown and royal robes could be seen,accompanied by his wife Queen Hecuba and their children and many knightsdressed in colourful garments. All of whom in this show as in all the others,representing the deeds of living people, it was marvellous to see how when thecurtains opened, with what majesty, poise and art these characters were shown,with the story so well represented that one only had to see the pose of eachperson to know who each one was and what they were representing, both ingesture and expression, and in the posture of their bodies, hands, legs and feet,as if they were figures in a painting, without moving their eyes, not even aneyelash, or doing anything other than what they were representing, both menand women, whoever wants to see a tapestry of living figures can see it in theseperformances (..)”]16

Along with the use of these Toonels, the use of portable

stages is also well documented, for example to perform

satirical morality plays.

The dramatic and theatrical action of the Rederijker was

clearly oriented towards marking a specific moment and was

consummated (albeit flying in the face of normal literary

requirements) in the fleeting event of the festive

16 CALVETE DE ESTRELLA, Juan Christóval: El felicíssimo viaje del muy alto y muypoderoso Príncipe don Phelippe. Edition by Paloma Cuenca. Madrid. SociedadEstatal para la Conmemoración de los centenarios de Felipe II y CarlosV. 2001, p. 157-158

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community performance of theatre pieces. It was not

understood as something that should be preserved or as an

artwork with lasting value. This meant that the majority of

dramatic texts were not printed, with many being preserved

in handwritten form and others lost forever.

The best known performers of the Rederijker include Cornelis

Everaert, Faktor of the chamber of Bruges, whose manuscript

legacy comprises no fewer than thirty-five works written

between 1509 and 1538, including several examples of the

comic genre of the Esbattements. The Faktor of the Oudenaarde

chamber of rhetoric, Matthijs de Castelein17, also wrote

numerous theatrical pieces, unfortunately now lost, plus a

theoretical dissertation on Rederijker drama and literary art

entitled De const van Rhethoriken written in 1548 and published

in 1555. In the Netherlands, the Rederijker laid the

foundations for the development of 17th century modern

artistic drama.

Considering the huge number and widespread membership of

the Rederijker associations, they quickly became fiercely

competitive with one another. Already in the first half of

the 15th century, formal drama competitions called

Landjuweelen were being held, which were organised by one of17 SPIES, Marijke: Rhetoric, Rhetoricians, and Poets: Studies in Renaissance Poetry and Poetics. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 1999, p. 40-44.

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the chambers issuing a challenge to the rest. The chambers

from other towns and cities came to compete not only to win

the honorary prize for their dramatic performances, but

also to make their own public appearances with magnificent

and colourful displays featuring lavish costumes.

Examples of urban theatre in the Netherlands in the 17th century

In the Netherlands during the 1600s, a shift in focus can

be seen towards highly literary forms of artistic drama

influenced by the classics, together with the disappearance

of a type of amateur actor who was replaced by

professionally organised theatre.

But, unlike what was happening in other parts of Europe,

where absolutist forms of government gave a predominantly

courtly nature to the development of art and national

culture, in the northern Netherlands this particular aspect

is missing. Baroque culture and art, as well as its drama

and theatre, acquired a basically middle-class character.

In the first decades of the 17th century the Rederijker

generally remained active with their own brand of staging,

although their numbers gradually dwindled. This was

particularly true in the United Provinces in the north,

which, having gained their independence from the Spanish

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monarchy and with Amsterdam as their capital, became the

real breeding ground for commercial, regulated modern

dramatic practice. Meanwhile, in the southern Netherlands,

the drama of the Rederijker and its old ways of staging and

performing still retained a strong following18.

The foundation of the first Low German Academy, the Eerste

Nederduytsche Academie (1617) in Amsterdam, by doctor and

playwright Samuel Coster (1579-1665) in partnership with

Bredero, was a decisive moment in the development of the

professional theatre that was taking root in the northern

Netherlands. This institution, set up along the lines of

Italian literary academies in a conscious attempt to

distance itself from the city’s two chambers of rhetoric,

in practice very soon became a kind of Dutch national

theatre. It soon absorbed the depleted Amsterdam chambers

of rhetoric and when the city authorities took over the

institution, the academy finally became a public company.

With the growth of the Republic in the 17th century, demand

for social entertainment grew and the benefits of a regular

theatre were soon discovered. In only a few years,18 The commercial and professional theatre that became more widespreadin these areas was performed by French companies. In the 1690s the“Polidore” and “Adriem Talmy” companies performed in Amiens, Liège,Arras and Brussels. On this topic, see LEBÈGUE, R.: “L’Influence dela Pléiade”. Le Théâtre” in CHARLIER, G. and HANSE, J.: Histoire ilustrée deslettres françaises de Belgique. Brussels, 1958, p. 171-174

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performances once held in rented warehouses were so

successful that the municipal authorities and the church,

both patrons benefitting from the extra income, were

convinced that a stable theatre that could hold around a

thousand people could be profitable. In the 17th century,

the theatre built for the academy by Coster in the city’s

Keizersgracht underwent two major renovations to its

structure. That formal modification enables us to obtain a

view of the developmental path followed by theatrical art

in the United Provinces during the Baroque era.

Whereas during the first two decades of Coster’s Academy

the simultaneous set was still in operation, the structural

change brought about in 1637, the moment from which theatre

would be known as Schouwburg, showed us a very different

picture19. At that time, the stage was a series of forms of

transition in which traditional and modern elements were

combined in the theatre space. A podium lit by daylight as

the main feature, drew the eye towards a fixed raked

structure composed of columns and galleries where backdrops

painted in perspective converged into various openings. The

front stage curtain was still absent, although there was an

intermediate curtain for covering the centre and back of19 MULLIN, Donald C.: The Development of the Playhouse: A Survey of Theatre Architecture from the Renaissance to the present. Berkeley , University of California, 1970, p. 167-171

23


the stage, for changing scenery or for revealing the

Vertooningen. However, in the Amsterdam Schouwburg created in

1637, the local tradition of the Rederijker still played an

important role.

The second structural change to occur between 1664 and

1665, and which was almost equivalent to rebuilding the

theatre, did away with this distinctive stage arrangement

and with it, the still limited dramatic principle

underlying it. Theatre then became equipped with a modern

and illusionist stage, along the lines of the Italian

model, with perspective sets and with a scene-changing

system based on the wings technique and with a wide range

of stage machinery. From this profound transformation

onwards, European Baroque dramatic forms gained a

definitive foothold in Amsterdam.

This whole process developed in close connection with the

appearance and consolidation of the acting profession

across the entire country. In this respect, the model was

provided by the English companies of players who stopped

many times en route to Germany, spending lengthy periods in

Dutch towns and cities. Gradually, and without a fuss,

professional actors began to emerge in the United

24


Provinces, apparently from the Rederijker associations with

the strongest links with theatre.

The best known professional players included Van Zjermes

(or Germes) and the famous Jan Tamboer, a comic actor and

drummer with the civic guard. Although at the turn of the

century female roles were played by men, in compliance with

the purest English Protestant tradition, women gradually

started appearing on the stage. The first and best known

was Ariana Van den Berg-Noozeman20 .

In the southern Netherlands, permanent theatres were set up

in major cities from the mid-17th century. Brussels, where

the Court was based, regularly received professional

companies who performed their shows in a venue built by a

rich brewer in a street referred to as of the players. A second

venue was later added in a street known as Fossé aux Loups21.

The demand for stage material intended for professional

theatre at the time meant that foreign, English, French and

particularly Spanish plays became popular in both the

northern and southern Netherlands.

20 VAN PRAAG, J.A.: La Comedia espagnole aux Pais Bas (au XVIIe et au XVIIIesiècle). Amsterdam, 1922, p. 821 LIEBRECHT, H.: “Le théâtre aux XVIIe siècle” in CHARLIER, G. andHANSE, J.: Histoire ilustrée des lettres françaises de Belgique. Brussels, 1958, p.199-210 and also RENIEU,L.: Histoire des théâtres de Bruxelles. Bruxelles, 2vols. 1928.

25


Spanish comedy and its influence on theatre in the Netherlands

According to Van Praag22 from the early 17th century and up

to the late 18th century, a relatively large number of

plays translated from Spanish were regularly performed on

stages in Amsterdam, Antwerp and Brussels, and were hugely

successful. The many publications are proof of their

popularity and even in the 18th century, when classic

French theatre ruled, several Spanish comedies held their

own in commercial theatre repertoires.

Various factors explain this presence of Spanish comedy in

the Netherlands. In the southern provinces, upper and

middle class social groups continued to be strongly

influenced by Spain, fuelled by the establishment of Isabel

Clara Eugenia and the Archduke Albert of Austria in

Brussels as sovereigns of the territories from 1598 to

1621. The presence of Isabel Clara as governor until 1633

prolonged this appearance of an independent court that was

nevertheless closely linked with Spanish culture and

interests23. The Brussels court regularly received visits

from Spanish companies, whose full range of activities and

22 Op. Cit. Pag. 8023 THOMAS, Werner: “La Corte de Bruselas y la restauración de la Casade Habsburgo en Flandes 1598-1633” in El Arte en la Corte de los ArchiduquesAlberto de Austria e Isabel Clara Eugenia (1598-1633). Un reino imaginado. Madrid, 2000,p. 46-63

26


travels have yet to be studied. Only fragments of

information have survived, such as the presence in Ghent in

July 1620 of a Spanish company of players24 led by Baltesar

de Varlios.

It is possible that many performances were organised on the

initiative of Spanish nationals resident in Brussels. The

long list of Spanish comedies imported from Spain25 held in

the city’s University Library seems to confirm this26.

Theatre plays were also published in Spanish, especially

those of Lope de Vega, from the early part of the century27.

As well as the Spanish editions, new works were written

that imitated Spanish theatre. Various educated men from

these countries were dramatists who wrote works influenced

by the style of Spanish comedy. They included Frederico

Cornelio de Connincq (1606-1649) and Antonio Francisco

24 This was reported by VAN PRAG, Op. Cit. Page 42 note 5 taken fromHAUWAERT, O. Van: Overzicht van het Vlaamsch Tooneel in de XVII eeuw . Ghent,1983, p. 2025 On this topic, see PEETERS-FONTAINAS, J.: Bibliographie des impressionsespagnoles des Pays Bas. Lovaina-Amberes: Musée Plantin-Moretus, 1933.26 VAN PRAGG, Op. Cit. Page 3827 VEGA CARPIO, Lope Félix de: Segunda parte de las comedias de Lope de VegaCarpio, que contiene otras doce. In Brussels, by Roger Velpio and HubertoAntonio, printers. 1611. (Contains: La fuerza lastimosa, la ocasión perdida, elfallado capitán, el mayorazgo dudoso, La resistencia honrada y condesa Matilde, LosBenavides, Los comendadores de Cordoba, La bella malmaridada, Los tres diamantes, Laquinta de Florencia, El padrino desposado and Las ferias de Madrid.). Another threeseparate comedies in Spanish were also published in Brussels in 1649:Comedia de Cosario a Cosario; Querer la propia desdicha and Del mal el menos, allthree were edited by Huberto Antonio Velpio.

27


Wouters. The former spent long periods in Seville and spoke

Spanish perfectly. He put on a number of pieces in Antwerp

between 1635 and 1638 that reflected the spirit of Lope de

Vega’s comedies28. Wouters worked in the 1760s and 70s and

adapted El castigo sin venganza under the title of De ver lieefde

Stiefmoedr oft de gestrafte bloetschand for the De Olijftack chamber of

rhetoric, plus La devoción de la Cruz by Calderón under the

title of De devotie van Eusebius lot het Heilige Kruys29. Others,

including Van den Brande and Roeland van Engelen also

worked in the chamber of rhetoric known as Des Violiers (the

wallflowers) from the second half of the 17th century. The

former rewrote a comedy by Pérez de Montalban under the

title of La gitanilla oft Spaens Heydinnetje (1649) and the latter

wrote for Des Violiers on a continuous basis between 1650 and

1665 adapting Spanish works30.

A number of Dutch literary scholars think that, in the

northern provinces, the influence of Spanish literature on

Dutch literature was three times higher than that of28 VOSTERS, Simón Anselmus: “Litteratures espagnole et néerlandaise:les influences mutuelles” in Spelndeurs d’Espagne et les villes belges 1500-1700.Vol. I, Brussels, 1985, p. 205-224 29 All the information about the publication of this book and how tofind it in the Paris National Library can be found in: SULLIVAN, H.W.:“Una traducción flamenca de la Devoción de la Cruz que no está perdida” inSULLIVAN, H.W; GALOPPE, R.A. and STOUTZ, M.L.: La comedia española en elteatro europeo del siglo XVII. Suffolk.Támesis Books, 1999, p. 143-151. Thework, found in 1998, is in the B.N.P. with the reference Y,Th. 67685.30 VOSTERS , S. M. Op. Cit. p. 215

28


Italian literature, and was far higher than that of English

literature31. They contributed particularly to the spread of

Iberian literature, especially theatre of the so-called

“Portuguese” Sephardic Jews, although they were mostly

Spanish crypto-Jewish emigrants from the peninsula who had

openly embraced the faith of their ancestors once they were

settled in Amsterdam. To understand the culture of these

Sephardic Jews living in the Dutch capital, first, as

remarked by scholars such as Kaplan32 and Miriam Bodian33,

we need to understand the difference between this group and

the Sephardic Jews expelled in 1492. Whereas these, in

their isolation, preserved their culture and customs intact

practically up to the present day, the Jewish converts (the

conversos) who emigrated to Amsterdam in the 17th century

knew little or no Hebrew and apart from a few customs, had

ceased to live as Jews. On the other hand, they retained

strong links with their homeland, where they had grown up

31 This is stated by WALTHAUS, R.: “La comedia lopesca y el teatroholandés de principios del siglo XVII: Un temprano triunfo paraTheodore Rhodemburg” in SULLIVAN, H.W; GALOPPE, R.A. and STOUTZ, M.L.(Eds.): Op. Cit. P. 152-174, which quotes for this argument fromWINKEL, J. te: “De invloed der Spaansche letterkunde op deNederlandsche in de zeventiende eeuw” en Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsche Taal-enLetterkunde 1 (1881) p. 59-114 , specifically p. 61.32 KAPLAN, Y.: “a Comunidade portugueza de Amsterdao no século XVIIentre tradiçao e mudança” in KISTEMAKER, R. and LEVIE, T. (Eds.):Portugueses em Amsterdao 1600-1800. Amsterdam, 1988, p. 42-5533 BODIAN, Miriam: Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in EarlyModern Amsterdam. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1997

29


and lived, and despite keeping their Jewish faith alive in

Amsterdam, they missed their former home, they kept in

constant contact with their Iberian counterparts for

financial and commercial reasons, and they knew about and

enjoyed literature from the peninsula.

So it is not surprising then, that during the second half

of the 17th century, literary “academies” began to emerge

in the Sephardic community living in the city and that they

were inspired by the Spanish rather than the Dutch

academies34. Their distinctive features can be seen not only

in the fact that their sessions were held in Spanish, but

also in that, unlike the Rederijker, the Sephardic academies

had an aristocratic element35 that always set them apart.

Although it is not known exactly when these literary

meetings started taking place (probably towards the end of

the first quarter of the 17th century) the first printed

evidence of a group of Sephardic writers devoted to this

activity dates from 1655. In 1676, Isaac Nuñez, also known

as Manuel de Belmonte, Count Palatino and the King of

Spain’s Resident in the Netherlands36, formed a poetry

academy with a Sephardic membership called El temor Divino.34 The Spanish academies had their heyday in the last quarter of the16th century and during the 17th century.35 DEN BOER, Harm: La literatura sefardí de Amsterdam. Instituto Internacionalde Estudios Sefardíes y Andalusíes. Universidad de Alcalá, 1996. P.135 and foll.

30


Another similar academy, that of los Floridos, operated in the

city from 1685. Poet and dramatist Miguel de Barrios (1635-

1701) was an active member, as evidenced by one of his

publications entitled Estrella de Iacob y flores de lis37, dated 1686,

when the writer had renounced Christianity. It contained a

section entitled Academia de los Floridos that contains a record

of those who took part in the meetings. As well as theatre

plays written in Hebrew with religious content, these

Sephardic academics also wrote secular comedies38. Of these,

Miguel de Barrios was the most prolific. In addition to

three swashbuckling comedies published in 1665 plus other

works under the title of Flor de Apolo39 , he wrote minor

comedies published in Triunfo del gobierno popular (1683-1684) and

Alegrías de Himeneo (1688).

Some documentary traces revealed by Harm de Boer reflect

the popularity of Spanish theatre amongst Amsterdam

Sephardic Jews in the late 17th and early 18th centuries40.

On 2 January 1696, Francisco Rodríguez Henriquez rented a36 He belonged to a social and financial elite that a number ofresearchers have dubbed “Court Jews”, see ISRAEL, J.: La judería europea enla era del mercantilismo (1550-1750), Madrid, Cátedra, 1992, p. 151-174.37 BNM R/ 2186, p. 65-6838 DEN BOER, H.: “El teatro entre los sefardíes de Ámsterdam a finesdel siglo XVII” en Diálogos Hispánicos, 8/III (1989), p. 679-690.Specifically p. 68039 From the copy in the BNM R/4854. The titles of the three comedieswere: Pedir favor al contrario; El canto junto al encanto; El español de Orán.40 DEN BOER, H.: La literatura... Op. Cit. P. 149

31


warehouse for “holding comedies” as quoted in a notary

deed; soon afterwards, in 1708, Spanish comedy enthusiasts

requested permission from Amsterdam City Council to hold

performances in Spanish on Wednesdays, the day when the

municipal theatre was closed. The authorities refused to

give permission although this was something that Sephardic

Jews had been doing for nine years, by their own admission.

The City Council was afraid that the municipal monopoly

over the city’s theatre performances would be adversely

affected if the practice was allowed, but in fact, back in

1677, a group of actors that included poet Miguel de

Barrios had performed a comedy in a rented warehouse in

front of an audience of around thirty people.

The habit of putting on shows in private houses to mark

family events was an Iberian practice that was also

widespread among the Sephardic community in Amsterdam. For

example, Calderón’s La vida es sueño was performed thirteen

years after its publication (1635) in the home of “the

Pinto family” as part of wedding celebrations41. Another

actor involved in the 1677 performance, Lorenzo Escudero42,

41 SALOMÓN, H.P.: “The De Pinto Manuscript”: a 17th Century MarranoFamily History” in Studia Rosentalia, 9, 1 (1975), p. 1-62, specifically p.6042 The Genealogía says the following about him: “fue un mozo rubio mui galán yaseado. Hiçose representante y casó con juana de Zisneros. Después pasó a italia y de allí aAmsterdam dónde judaizó y murió rebentado” [“he was a blond youth, very

32


was a Spaniard of Moorish birth who had converted to

Judaism and settled in the Amsterdam Sephardic community

under the name of Abraham Israel. His Jewish connections

did not prevent him from being invited to take part in the

theatre festivities for the wedding of Leopold I and

Margaret Theresa of Austria in the Brussels court, and the

fact of the matter is that, despite political and religious

differences, cultural permeability did exist between the

north and south, at least in respect of Spanish-based

theatre, as shown by the publication of collections of

comedies of this kind promoted by Sephardic Jews. The

volumes printed in 1697 and 1704 are an example. In both of

them, the printing location has been faked. The first says

it was printed in Cologne and the second in Brussels.

However, the printer’s name, Manuel Texera, and those of

patrons Gil López Pinto and Manuel de Belmonte, make their

connections very clear. Faking both printing locations

served to sell the editions to a Catholic readership,

especially in the southern Netherlands.

Outside purely Sephardic circles43 Theodoor Rodemburg (1574-

1644), a lawyer born in Utrecht, was responsible forhandsome and neat. He became a representative an married Juana deZisneros. Then he went to Italy and from there to Amsterdan where heconverted to Judaism and died a ruined man”] in VAREY , J. andSHERGOLD, N.D. (Eds.): Genealogía, origen y noticias de los comediantes de España.Támesis, Books, Valencia, 1985, p. 149

33


introducing Spanish comedy into the Netherlands.

Representative in Madrid of the Trading Company of Guinea

and diplomat at the court of King Philip III, his writings

were highly scholarly and he was author of one of the first

Dutch language poetics. He was president of the Eglantier

academy of rhetoric following the departure of Bredero,

Hooft and Coster. His translations of Lope de Vega during

the first half of the 17th century show him to be ahead of

his time, as Spanish theatre only began to gain in

popularity in Holland towards the second half. Although he

did not stray much from the original versions, all the

plays he adapted bore his personal stamp, reflecting Lope’s

metric diversity and the ultimate aim of his theatre, which

was to amuse the audience, especially his versions of the

swashbuckling comedies, a genre that was hugely successful

in Holland44.

The success of Spanish comedy in the United Provinces, in

particular Amsterdam, was closely linked to the development

43 DEN BOER, Harm: “La representación de la comedia española enHolanda” en SANZ AYÁN, C. (Ed.): Ingenio Fecundo y juicio profundo. Estudios dehistoria del Teatro en la Edad Moderna. Monographic Vc nº 23- 1999 in Cuadernos deHistoria Moderna. P. 113-12744 WALTHAUS, Rina: “La comedia lopesca y el teatro holandés de principios del siglo XVII: un temprano triunfo para Theodore Rodenburgh” in SULLIVAN, Henry W., Galoppe, Raul A. and Stoutz, MahlonL.: La comedia española y el teatro europeo del siglo XVII, London, Támesis Books, 1999. p. 152-174

34


of commercial theatre and therefore to the official opening

of the Schouwburg theatre45 under local authority ownership.

Certainly, the possibilities offered by a permanent venue

with capacity for a considerable number of spectators was a

contributing factor in the success of the Spanish formula.

The city authorities recognised the economic and social

importance of theatre performances, as the income they

generated was used for the upkeep of orphans and the

elderly with no means of support, as was the case with

public theatres practically throughout the Spanish

monarchy46. It is therefore understandable that theatre in

Amsterdam was a mix of interests, those of dramatists,

civil authorities, religious authorities (although to a

lesser extent) plus those of the public.

From 1638 onwards, Spanish comedies were performed every

year; more than forty in direct translation, nearly thirty

via French translation47 and almost forty more of uncertain45 HELLINGA, W. Gs.: “la representation de Gijsbreght van Amstel” deVondel. Inauguration du Schouwburg d’Amsterdam (1639)” in JACQUOT,Jean (ed.): Le lieu théâtral à la Renaissance. Paris, 1964, 323-348.46 SANZ AYÁN, C.: “Felipe II y los orígenes del teatro Barroco” en SANZAYÁN, C. (Ed..): Ingenio Fecundo y juicio profundo. Op. Cit. Pags. 47-77,specifically pages 70-7247 A considerable number of Spanish comedies were translated orimitated in French in the 17th century. On the spread of Spanishcomedy in France see LABARRE, Françoise: Jouer la Comedia. Le théâtre du siècleD’Or sur la Scène Francaçaise du XVIIe siècle à nous jours. Toulouse. Université deToulose le Mirail. 1993. Corneille’s major work, Le Cid and the majorityof Rotrou comedies that were successful in their day were clearly

35


origin but inspired by Spanish works48. The most widely

performed author was Lope de Vega. His most popular plays

in the Netherlands included La fuerza lastimosa; Los locos de

Valencia; Si no vieran las mujeres; El castigo sin Venganza; El gran Duque de

Moscovia and El molino49. From the titles chosen to be performed

in the commercial theatre, it seems that their success was

really down to their energy, people’s interest in intrigue

and the chance for the actors to show off their skills. In

the late 19th century, the scholar Te Winkel attempted to

make an inventory of Dutch drama works based on Spanish

comedies, listing around seventy titles, nearly all from

the period 1640-1730.

From halfway through the century, the connection with

professional theatre can also be seen in the identity of

the translators. Most of them were not academics like

Rodemburg, but professional actors or theatre company

directors. One of them, León de Fuyter, was a Spanish

comedy specialist. But Dutch translators were not working

alone, they collaborated with Sephardic Jews living in

Amsterdam who provided a first version of the translation

in prose, from which the Dutch would produce a final

based on Spanish models.48 Boer cites Van Praag as the first to produce a bibliography oftranslations and rewritten versions of Spanish comedy.49 VAN PRAGG, op. Cit. P. 82

36


version in verse. From an analysis of information from the

Amsterdam municipal theatre administration, we can infer

that the Spanish comedy formula was a guaranteed box office

success. In the period 1638-1665 only three works were able

to compete: the Dutch tragedy Gijsbrecht van Aemstel by Vondel,

with 110 performances50; the translation of Le Cid by

Corneille with 79, and a Dutch rewrite of The Spanish Tragedy

by Thomas Kid with 62. During this period five of Lope de

Vega’s comedies accumulated more than 40 performances each:

El cuerdo loco, La fuerza lastimosa, El perseguido, Laura perseguida and El

palacio confuso. The average number of performances of a

Spanish comedy during those years was an impressive

fifteen51. As for the other great genius of Spanish theatre,

Calderón de la Barca, five of his plays were translated

into Dutch directly from Spanish in the 17th century: La

devoción de la Cruz; La Gran Cenobia; Lances de Amor y fortuna; El mayor

encanto Amor and La vida es Sueño52. They were all translated by

southern Dutch writers, two by Antonio Wouters, two by

Claude Grieck and one by Shouwenbergh. This predilection of

50 On the symbolic meaning of this work see PARENTE, James A.: “Thetheatricality of History in the Duch Golden Age. Joost van denVondel’s Gysbreght van Aemstel” in HERMANS Th. and SALVERDA, R. (eds.):From revolt to riches. Culture and history of the Low Countries 1500-1700. London. 1993,p. 248-26751 Boer extracts the data from: OEY de VITA, E and GEESINK, M: AcademieEn Schouwburg Amsterdams toneelrepertoire 1617-1665. Amsterdam, 198352 VAN PRAGG, op. Cit. P. 132-133

37


southern translators for Calderón’s works has been

explained by a very superficial analysis justifying that

Catholic “fanatics” in the south preferred to translate

their Catholic counterpart as he was a famous author of

religious plays. What is paradoxical and vacuous about this

theory is precisely that, of the five works cited, only one

has any kind of religious content.

German artistic drama and its development in the 17th century

In German-speaking countries, activity in the field of

dramatic art was extremely diversified. There were no

public theatres, which meant that performances were held at

the Emperor’s court or at that of the Prince, in schools

and in large and medium-sized trading towns, especially at

fairs. In these areas, the wealth and variety of Spanish

comedy was evident in three cultural centres: The Viennese

Court, The Hamburg Opera and the travelling theatre company

of Johannes Velten (1640-1693)53.

In the political and social environment of Princely

absolutism, Germany saw a surge in Baroque culture based in

the court, which in essence, left its artistic and

intellectual mark on an entire era. Highly developed53 FRANZBACH, M.: “La recepción de la comedia española en Alemania yAustria” in SULLIVAN, H.W; GALOPPE, R.A. and STOUTZ, M.L. (Eds.): Op.Cit. P. 175-185

38


theatre was a major component of this Baroque and

Absolutist court culture, with a particularly strong

emphasis on the dramatic musical genre, that is to say, on

Italian opera, with its theatre practices and its

architectural achievements.

But alongside this development of a Baroque and courtly

theatre culture, the 17th century saw the rise of an

aesthetically independent type of German artistic drama. It

could be seen on stage in the Protestant school theatre, at

the Hamburg Opera, the cultural manifestation of the

Hanseatic middle-class, in the Latin Catholic drama of

religious orders (especially the Jesuits) and in the

consolidation of a professional class of actors who wrote

their own costumbrist dramatic literature. All these

theatre forms were not created in a vacuum. There were

links between them in such a way that travelling companies

performed under the patronage of the Prince, while Jesuit

theatre in Munich and Vienna served as court theatre. The

historical dramas of Andreas Gryphius54 and theatre plays by

Daniel Casper von Lohenstein written for Protestant schools

were also performed in the various Princely courts and were

adapted by travelling players, in particular by foreign

54 MENHENNET, Alan: The Historical Experience in German Drama. From Gryphius to Brecht. USA, Camden House, 2003. P. 13-32

39


professional companies who had been putting on performances

in Germany since the mid-16th century. In the Hamburg

Baroque Opera, the constant influx of Dutch and German

travelling companies brought in a multitude of topics to

operas performed there that aimed to satisfy a broader

range of middle-class audiences rather than the limited

circle at court. Calderón’s texts were adapted or served as

inspiration for Hamburg libretto writers, especially from

the last quarter of the 17th century onwards55.

The appearance of professional theatre in lands of the Holy Roman Empire

and Spanish comedy

Italian professional players started appearing on the scene

in the southern Holy Roman Empire in the 1670s. But these

Commedia dell’ Arte companies remained loyal to the vernacular

and to the distinctive features of Italian costumbrist

comedy and its theatre practice, making them a closed

theatre system. In this sense, the most direct promoters of

professional theatre across the entire German-speaking area

were English travelling players. The Englische Komödianten,

the first of which were documented in Dresden between 1585

and 1587, imported a new way of doing things that was very

55 FRANZBACH, M.: La recepción... Op. Cit. P. 180-183

40


different to the declamatory style of humanist school

theatre or of 16th century Meistersingers and carnivalesque

comedy, as its main features were expressivity and

naturalism. From 1592 up to the mid-17th century, they

spread across the whole German-speaking area and from the

outset they made their mark with their flexible approach to

all aspects of their productions.

In the first place, they were remarkable for their ability

to transport their shows to many different places with

ease. These companies travelled from the Netherlands to

Bohemia and Styria, and from Alsace and Switzerland to the

Baltic and Poland. But an even more decisive factor than

this ability to move around was their versatility in

performing their productions to different social groups.

They were equally able to commit to the Princely courts

either provisionally or for a prolonged period, at the same

time as giving regular performances in all the big cities

in the German-speaking area, especially at fair time. They

also managed to remain in these areas for long periods of

time thanks to their willingness to perform in German in

the very early 17th century. This was the most important

condition for making themselves understood to less well-

educated audiences.

41


In the beginning, the repertoire of English players was

limited to an overview of English Elizabethan theatre

(including Marlowe and Shakespeare), reducing the original

text down to a series of sensationalist scenes. Mixed in

with a few political plays, comic works were the norm, with

the clown as an essential figure. Very soon they began to

offer comedies with biblical content and others by German

authors. Halfway through the century they widened their

repertoire to include Italian, Spanish and French

productions. Texts by Lope de Vega and Calderón found their

way onto the stages of English travelling players.

The smooth operation and success of these theatre

enterprises, which usually consisted of more than ten

members, depended firstly on the expertise and directing

abilities of the principal, equivalent to the autor in Spanish

companies. The principal was the one who played the most

important role within the company. He would normally take

on the comic character role, the most popular with

audiences, the same as in Spanish companies, where the

authors were frequently the ones who played the part of the

fool – the bobo or gracioso. For this central speciality,

some directors created certain distinctive, peculiar and

established styles or characters. The most important of

42


these was perhaps Reynold’s harlequin, a widespread and

popular character in travelling theatre.

The last and perhaps most famous director of an English

company in German territory was Joris Jolliphus (or Georg

Jolly) (t 1673) who, after leaving England because of the

theatre ban imposed by the Puritans during the Civil War,

appeared on the Continent in 1648 and remained in German

territory until 1660 with a company of fourteen actors

including a woman56.

Throughout the first half of the century, English players

accepted German actors into their groups. From the mid-17th

century, we find the first successful German travelling

companies beginning to appear. Many of them continued to

work under the professional name of “English players” and

retained geographical mobility as a hallmark of their

profession. Leading companies included those of Karl

Michael Treu, Karl Andreas Paulsen, active between 1650 and

1687, and especially that of Johannes Velten, who worked

between 1640 and 1692. Paulsen was originally from Hamburg

and was likely to have been a university graduate. He

worked in northern and eastern European cities and his

repertoire featured plays by Marlowe, Kid and Shakespeare,56 DONOHUE, Joseph (ed.): The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 173.

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plus works by Lope de Vega and Calderón. In fact, Johannes

Velten’s credentials as teacher and graduate of the

universities of Wittemberg and Leipzig are proof of the

considerable cultural level of German Baroque professional

companies. He was also one of the leading adaptors of

Spanish theatre, specifically of Calderón de la Barca, on

professional stages across the German-speaking regions. The

outline of his professional career is comparable to that

taken by other actors and directors of companies as far

away as the kingdom of Castile. Born in Halle57, he embarked

on his acting career on completing his studies. In 1665 he

joined the company headed by Karl Andreas Paulsen and

married his daughter Catherina Elizabeth. He is mentioned

in Nuremberg in 1668 leading a group called High German Actors

and in early 1669 Velten’s company included Lances de amor y

fortuna under the title of Der Künstliche Lügner in their

repertoire of works to be performed in the city of Danzing.

He proved himself to be as versatile as the English

companies of players who preceded him, and he was equally

to be found applying to the Frankfurt or Leipzig city

authorities for licences to perform at fairs, as performing

at the faraway court of the Czar with a thirty-strong

57 See information about Velten and his company in SULLIVAN, H.W.:Calderon in the German lands and the Low Countries: His reception and influence, 1654-1980.Cambridge University Press, 1983, p. 72-77

44


company of players in the early years of the 1670s. In the

service of the Prince-Elector of Saxony since 1685, he

would often include French and Spanish comedies in his

theatre. In fact, Calderón’s work made up roughly ten per

cent of his entire repertoire. His staunch defence of the

presence of women on the stage, his own wife was cast in

the company’s leading female roles, brought him harsh

criticism, in particular from the Protestant clergy who

were against professionalised commercial theatre.

After Velten’s death in 1692, his wife continued to direct

the company and when Frederick Augustus I was elected King

of Poland in 1697, she obtained permission to perform

there. A short while later, the company put on the major

piece Königliche polnische und kursächsisch-hochdeutsche Hofkomödianten,

resulting in the group of actors became a Royal Company at

the courts of the Elector of Saxony and the King of Poland.

1690 was the year in which Spanish plays occupied the

lion’s share of Velten’s repertoire. As adaptor and

performer of Calderón as well as of Lances de Amor y Fortuna, a

highly successful play in German lands at least until the

mid-18th century, he gave several performances of El alcaide

de sí mismo under the title of Sien selbst Gefangener; La hija del aire

(Die grose Königin Semiramis); La vida es sueño (Prinz Sigismund van Pohlen)

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and Darlo todo y no dar nada (Alles geben und doch Nichtsgeben58).

Fortunately, the manuscript for this performance has

survived59 and we know for a fact that it was the basis for

Velten’s production and probably also for the production

staged in 1695 by the company known as Merserburger

Komödianten. In order to produce this adapted manuscript, it

seems he used the court performance given in Vienna during

1668 of the original published in Spanish by Matheo

Cosmerovio60.

In summary, the drama performed by typically Baroque

professional travelling theatre in the lands of the Holy

Roman Empire was generally practical in nature. It had no

ambitions to go down in history as highly regarded artistic

literature. Its decisive contribution to 17th century

general cultural history lies in having created a

professional (and therefore commercial) theatre,

consolidated as a cultural institution with universal58 On the reception of Calderón’s theatre see FRANZBACH, M.: El teatro deCalderón en Europa. Madrid, 1982.59 Oesterreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna (Cod. Vindob. 13.124)Cited by SULLIVAN, H.W.: Op. Cit. P. 7460 On 22 December 1668, to mark the birthday of Queen Mariana ofAustria, the comedy Darlo todo y no dar nada was performed at the Viennesecourt. The volume in Spanish containing the play was printed in thecity that same year under the title Triunfos del Diciembre en la Felicidad delnumerarse entre los suyos el día de años de la Serenísima Reyna de España Doña Mariana deAustria. The existence of this volume is recorded by SEIFERT, H.: Die Operam WienerKaiserhof im 17. Jahrhundert. Tutzing, Verlegt Bei Hans Schneider,1985, p. 465

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social aspirations, something that was never achieved

either before or after by court theatre, or Protestant

theatre, or Catholic religious theatre with its highly

restricted public profile.

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